Ok, I don’t often use the bakery and its media outlets (ie: the blog) as a personal soapbox, but I do occasionally make exceptions. This is one of the exceptions.
WARNING: the following video (and story) may not be appropriate for young children; the video is VERY graphic.
This video is a PSA from Australia and I have to say it may be the best anti-drunk driving promotion I’ve seen ever; it’s 5 minutes but please do it justice and watch the whole thing. Click here to go to the video on You Tube.
I cried the entire second half of that movie, both from remembrance and gratitude.
I remembered the bright light as his jeep rounded the corner and the explosion I saw in my head before waking up almost 60 feet from where I was hit, not able to move my lower body, tasting my own blood in my mouth, and wondering if anyone in our group was dead.
I was grateful to still be here, walking and talking, despite terrible odds.
I don’t talk a lot about the accident; it was over ten years ago, my sophomore year of college. Some friends and I were walking home after a party to the apartments right behind campus. We looked both ways and began crossing the street (a small campus street with Greek houses and student apts). Two guys, other students, were driving home from a bar just a couple blocks away; they were going between 60 and 70 miles per hour when they rounded the curve in the street and, without once hitting the brakes, plowed into our group. They hit the two people in the middle, myself and my friend Jackie, and kept right on going. We were each thrown about 60 feet.
Jackie skidded on the pavement and tore her scalp off from her eyebrows to the back of her head. She fractured her hip as well as an arm and had to have reconstructive surgery on her face.
I broke bones in my knees and my pelvis snapped in multiple places, one of the shards tearing through my bladder and causing significant internal bleeding.
Jackie and I were taken to different hospitals and it was the longest night of my life. I couldn’t move my legs and there was excruciating pain everywhere. When I arrived at the hospital, I was rushed into the ER where my clothes were cut off of me and I was stuck with so many needles I felt like a pincushion. Before I could be medicated, xrays and CT scans had to be made, so I had to be moved onto cold, hard tables while different scans were run (all with a pelvis that was completely broken in multiple places); I couldn’t stop from screaming from the pain. Finally after being returned to the ER, a friend was allowed to come sit with me. Jordan picked the gravel out of my hair piece by piece and stayed with me, even after I, from major trauma to my body, threw up on her. And so my healing journey began.
my lip was busted up and face bruised; this pic was taken during a physical therapy session a few days after the accident
the assignment was to use the walker to stand and then sit down in a chair about 3 feet away
It is a miracle that not one, but both of us survived that night. The survival rate of a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle at that speed is less than 2%. We were both hospitalized and underwent a lot of medical treatment.
I was in a wheelchair for 3 months and suffered intense nerve damage that kept me up almost every night for months literally screaming in agony. I underwent a lot of physical therapy and a big victory was the first time I could go to the bathroom by myself. There are still patches of my body without much feeling and I have metal screws in my pelvis that look like carriage bolts.
And we were lucky. Most people don’t survive.
That night, my mom got a call at 2am from the school dean asking if she was the mother of Katherine Gordon and that there had been an accident, a call that every parent dreads. But it could have been worse; that same weekend another parent got a similar call from the dean, but the news was much worse.
Please don’t drink and drive.
Call a taxi; seriously, it’s $20 to take a taxi just about anywhere in Memphis. Save the number in your cell phone: 577-7777. Or call a friend or a parent or a son or daughter to come pick you up. Don’t jeopardize yourself and someone else.
Who knows whose life you might save.
I wish so many more people would understand the horror caused by drunk driving. I am sorry this happened. I am grateful you are alive. Please keep speaking up!
Thank you for sharing your story, Kat, you are very brave and this is an important message to everyone.
oh gosh. i’m just in tears thinking about the pain and trauma you suffered…needlessly. thank you for sharing. i hope you save a life with your story.
I hope people don’t think that by not drinking and driving they are off the hook. Get off your phones, pay attention, and be careful out there everyone! Thanks for sharing, Kat.
Thank you for sharing Kat. So glad you made it.
Amazing to me that people think they can drive when so messed up. Yet so many people do it all the time. Thanks for sharing your story and this video. I sat with my hand over my mouth the whole time.
I had no idea. I’m glad you’re still here Kat.
You’re brave and strong. Thanks for sharing.
[...] haven’t…get yourself over there tomorrow!!! The founder of Muddy’s, Kat, wrote this blog post yesterday. I had no idea this terrible thing had happened to her, and am so moved by her story. [...]
Hey love, Thanks for sharing this. It’s a story that is tough to forget but needs reminding. One voice like yours can make a huge difference. Keep up that strength we all know and love. xo
Oh Sweetheart…I’ve just read this and have tears picking up steam as they are streaming down my face. When I sent you all the video I wasn’t sure you should watch it but apparently you did. How well I remember ‘the call’ and the moment Dad and I rounded the corner into the door of your hospital room once we got to Dallas. I felt the blood literally drop from my face as my eyes found you. Since you had made your friends promise not to tell me how bad it was, for fear I would drive like a maniac to Dallas, Dad and I were both shocked to see the extent of your injuries. I still thank Holly (who I had never met) for calling to let me know to come ‘NOW’ since I had been unable to glean any information from the hospital and didn’t know if you had a broken arm, or what. (Thank you, Holly.) I used to hear the term ‘pain and suffering’ and I had NO idea quite what that meant. I do now. I’ve never seen anyone in such pain. I thought once you began to be a little better in the Dallas hospital and you got to go home that it would be downhill from there. Oh how wrong that thought was. No one told us about the pain that was yet to appear…the pain in the night…the excruciating pain every night for hours and hours. I have never felt so helpless as I did during that time as you screamed in pain beginning slowly and increasing in severity until you were covered in tears and exhausted. Even while taking mass doses of Oxycontin and about 7 other strong drugs the pain was unbearable for you to endure and for me to witness and for Preston to hear as he tried to sleep each night. Without the care and help of Dr. Kit Mays I can’t imagine how you would have gotten through it. (As it turned out his own son was going through the same thing after being hit by a car at Emory and he is still in my prayers.)
(This was before the nighttime traumatic pain arrived). We began to notice that a variety of Drs and nurses were stopping by the room for no apparent reason…then we found out that word had gotten around the hospital that they should come meet the girl in room 337 (and get a goodie). She was determined to be able, upon release, to walk up the stairs to her apt to help pack and say goodbye to it so she began working on her walking at the hospital with great earnest. It was difficult to watch because it was so very difficult and painful for her to do but she did. The first time she conquered the stairs (and turned white as a ghost in the process) at the end of the hall the nurse headed her back to the room and Kat stopped dead in her tracks, faced the stairs and stated, “AGAIN.” Up she went again while I watched with admiration and trepidation. She did it. Once home she was in a wheelchair and on a walker and couldn’t finish the year at school which put her behind all of her friends. It was a long hard road and I learned so much from my daughter as she progressed and made her way through the ordeal. Good things can come from bad things and good came in a variety of ways from this. We are so close, my youngest son Preston saw firsthand the damage done from drinking and driving to his sister and once at Ole Miss he became almost a Nazi about drinking and driving, it brought Kat back to Memphis where she later decided to be really, really daring and quietly open a small bakery at age 26. (What if Muddy’s were in Dallas instead of here?) The rest is history…and yes, she still wears the tiaras off and on! (some day, ask her what her big plan of revenge was to the driver of the car that hit her!) Kat doesn’t know I’m writing this and I hope it’s okay. Oh… and you have NO IDEA how major it is that Kat posted the pictures of herself in the hospital. She wouldn’t even look at them for years…. I am so proud of Kat for so many things….her determination, her willingness to talk about drinking and driving, her baking abilities, her desire to help other people be happy (one of the most important dreams for Muddy’s), her faith in God when she could have taken a totally different direction and especially for her character. For anyone who has made it through this long comment…please know how much I love her and how appreciative I am to God for letting me have her a little longer. Please…don’t drink and drive. Be strong enough not to get in the car with a drunk driver. Be strong enough to ask your friends not to drive..and maybe take their keys even if they get mad. Be strong enough to accept a ride if someone tells you they think you shouldn’t drive. Thank them and know they care about you.
Okay, for anyone reading this.. and who has gotten to know Kat through the bakery… I want to tell you about her stay in the hospital in Dallas. Once she had a grip and understood what had happened and got past the initial horror of it all… she felt it was her duty to give the Drs, nurses, other patients, etc an opportunity for a smile or a laugh. Each morning she donned her tiara. She cut off her hospital pants and made ‘hospital bermudas’, she took pink ribbons off of the vases of beautiful flowers sent to her and tied them around the tops of the thick white therapy knee socks (whatever they are called) with bows, put ribbons in her hair (which she couldn’t wash for quite some time as she couldn’t take a bath or shower), and would go to ‘therapy’ or would struggle (literally) to walk up and down the hall. As she was doing this she was attached to a catheter and the bags of fluid (I can’t remember what it was) so I would scoot those along with her. Each step was a struggle but you should have see the looks and giggles from the others on the hall. She kept a box of ‘goodies’ collected from what her friends brought (candy, cookies, etc) and insisted that anyone who entered the room select a goodie before they left. She would don her ‘get-up’ for each and every physical therapy session because she said it wasn’t a pleasant room to be in and she wanted the other patients to have something to smile about. Then…each afternoon about 5:00 she removed the simple tiara and replaced it with the ‘Evening Tiara’ which was, obviously, much more appropriate for the night time.
Don’t park in handicapped parking spaces. Do offer to help people struggling with wheelchairs, etc. Do look people in the eye who are in a wheelchair instead of pretending they are invisible.
Thank you Jordan (Marshall) for being there with my baby and picking gravel out of her head and for all the sweet things you did for us while in the hospital! Thank you Phil Trenary for sending your plane to bring Kat home as she couldn’t make the drive and couldn’t board a regular flight with all of her gear and couldn’t sit in a normal seat. Thank you Susan Quinn Ash for deciding that what Kat needed to lift her spirits and give her something to look forward to was a dog, a non allergenic dog, and searching the country for a Havanese puppy and thank you everyone who chipped in to pay for Miss Dixie… there is no way I could ever thank you enough. It was a turning point for Kat. I thank everyone for the prayers, the calls, the flowers, the visits…the love. What an experience for us all.
Also, thank you Preston Bealle for all of your help and advice and encouragement to Kat in getting and keeping Muddy’s going!
Thank you for being so brave to share your story. I’m sitting here with tears reading your story and also Jan’s comments. This will change lives. Your business is a testament to God’s provision and love. I admire you even more knowing this background. Blessings to you!
Oh Kat. And Jan. And all the Gordons. I remember this happening, and I’m so sorry I wasn’t really there. You inspire and humble me more than you’ll know. Thank you for sharing this. I love you, and I’m proud to know you.
I am still digesting all of this information. Your post and your mom’s response have me reading and re-reading this, and I can’t wait to share it with my teenage kids. One drives, the other is about to start driving, and it frightens me every day. Not just about them making good choices, but about the people out there who do NOT. Some things are in our control, and I am grateful that 1. you survived such horror 2. you shared this with the world 3. you can taste the love in your cupcakes. You are an inspiration!
Had to re-do my eye make-up after reading this……especially the posts from Mom…..as a parent of two (no longer teens but the worry never goes away) I SO admire your courage and determination and strength to survive such an ordeal. I cannot imagine how you ALL survived. I wish this WHOLE post and all the comments could be required reading for everyone who drives….not just teens. It’s also an issue for other drivers who may have no business behind the wheel but their families just “can’t take the keys” from them. G-d bless you and your family and thanks for sharing such a private ordeal…..you will do a world of good I believe. AND…i love your cupcakes too!
Kat and Jan, My tears are still not dry, but I’ve got to tell you both, I’ve never known heroes of your magnitude. Most of us will never know why God placed us on Earth, but the courage and inspiration you’ve shared will remain with me as long as I live.
Wendy, you are right and I thought about it after I posted. There are other drivers, not necessarily drug or alcohol impaired who probably shouldn’t be driving either due to eyesight, age, physical limitations, fatigue, etc. We all think we are ‘okay to drive’ or we wouldn’t do it…but when someone lovingly lets us know we shouldn’t be driving… we need to listen. None of us would intentionally cause an accident or hurt someone but our actions, or lack thereof, can be devastating and deadly for someone else…. some other innocent person who finds themself in our path that day.
My youngest son went to Ole Miss. He has been a big burly all guy party guy…he has been known to drink his share and his friends share….but he won’t drive. He takes friends keys even if means getting physical sometimes. He walks if necessary and on several occasions he has not been shy about just getting out of the car if the driver has had too much. I know because I’ve been called to pick him up on some of these occasions…he just got out of the car! I believe with all my heart that Kats ordeal made such an impression on him that it has saved his life. I am pretty certain of it.
We were told that the wonderful, wonderful Dr who recently removed one of Kats pins lost his daughter last year. Apparently she was on her way back to college and was texting. The film clip could just as easily be about that, too, and it is such a tempting thing for all of us.
Kat, you are an inspiration! Your story has probably helped others and made them think twice about getting behind the wheel while impaired. And I wish cell phones could have a mechanism that would make TEXTING impossible when the car is in drive. It’s all so senseless and we know can be avoided. I love that you wore a tiara and made your hospital room so cozy and bright.
Thanks for your delicious cupcakes! I will post this on my FB page to spread your story. Keep smiling!
Food for thought – cupcakes of experience, pain, and wisdom. I respect and admire you so much, Kat. Thanks for making it though and emerging triumpant, and thanks for sharing with us all (in so many ways).
Kat and Jan,
Thank you for sharing your stories. They definitely are examples of not being able to look at someone and think you know what they have been through in their lives. Kat, I have admired you and the bakery since my first visit several years ago, and although I’m not such a regular customer, I always speak highly of Muddy’s whenever the opportunity arises.
Thank you for making the world a sweeter and safer place.
All I can say is “wow”…..just “wow”. Thank you for sharing your story with ‘us’. I am so grateful to know that it is one of triumph vs. tragedy for your family. I hope that your message reaches many, especially those who need it the most….those who are thoughtless and feel invincible when they are out there partying recklessly.
I will share it on my FB page too.
Be well.
I used to babysit for Kat and her brothers back in the day…you guys were an amazingly strong family back then and it certainly hasn’t changed. Thanks for sharing everything you went through…I hope it will help
others think twice before taking a needless risk. I am so glad to hear things have gone so well for you with the bakery and I am looking forward to bringing my little ones in for a treat next time we get back to Memphis!
I am at a complete loss for word which does not happen very often!! I had no idea that this happened and there are so many heros in this story. Life is about sharing our journeys and Kat this one is for this history books. Jan, your story brought tears to my eyes thinking of how helpless you must of felt watching your daughter in such pain. Because of someone’s bad judgement and reckless behavior your lives are forever changed. But now, you have actually turned a hoffific event into a story that can help countless people. You
ALL are so brave and I thank you for posting this.
You are amazing, Kat. Thanks for sharing your story.
Oh Kat, I still remember being at SMS & hearing about your accident. You are right – there is no reason to drink & drive. Thank you for sharing this with us. You are amazing.
Kat,
I’ve known your mom through Real Estate for some time and never knew this story. Thank you so much for sharing this and Thank you Jan for sharing your memories & great advice. I have to tell you that I cried, (sobbed is more like it)..completely moved by how brave you were….and still are! It is amazing that you could think of others during that time and how you can see the good that came from something so horrible! I plan on reading this to my girls ASAP. You did wonderful thing by sharing this!
Kat and Jan,
I remember getting the phone call while on a short vacation in Lake Tahoe and wishing I could catch a plane to Dallas immediately. And I remember the long phone calls as Jan described those horrible nights when Kat returned to Memphis. You two have such a strong relationship and I’m starting to understand how a scary and painful experience can bring people closer than ever. I love you both so much and proud to call you “family”. Let’s keep the message going!
Margot, obviously you all are going through your own ‘hard time’ and you all are SO in my prayers as you know. I feel so close to your ‘baby’ and to you and know you all will have your story of triumph later, too.
Kat and Jan,
Wow…I’ve known of Muddy’s for some time now…it’s THE place to go for cupcakes and other delectables. I’ve known Jan for years through real estate, but did not know of the accident or what you’ve been through. Kat, I didn’t even realize Jan was your Mom.
Your stories moved me to tears like so many of the others who have commented. You are both inspirations because of your faith, your strength and your amazing love for each other. Thank you for taking time to share with us. Thank you for caring enough to remind us not to drink and drive. Every driver should be required to watch the video every other year or so…similar to continuing education…as a reminder that alcohol kills. In today’s world, cell phones kill too! No drinking, texting or emailing while driving!
Tommie
Oh, Kat! You are so brave to share your story. This moment is one of my most vivid memories from college. Like your mother, I, too, was awakened by a shocking phone call–from my mother, who had just hung up with your mom. The call came at about 6:00 a.m. I remember being irritated; my mother knew better than to call that early. When she told me what had happened, the irritation flew out the window. I jumped out of bed and sprang into action. I couldn’t believe it! You and I had attended the same party the night before with different groups of friends and when I saw you, you were fine. When I got home from the party, I remember that the Panhellenic House was abuzz, because something BIG had happened across the street. Someone had heard strange noises and seen flashing lights, but none of us ever imagined the horror that had occurred.
Since I did not have a car, I quickly found a ride with my roommate, who rushed me over to Parkland Hospital. Neither of us had a clue where it was as it was definitely located outside the SMU “Bubble.” I think I was the first to arrive. Maybe there were other friends, but I don’t remember. All I could see was you, so fragile and broken, nearly unrecognizable by the physical scars of the trauma, and barely able to speak. I couldn’t help it and went over to the bed to brush your hair and rub your head, whatever I could think of to comfort you in the absence of your mother (who at that moment was driving as fast as she could from Memphis.)
I don’t know if you remember, but when I was a very little girl and my grandmother was killed in a car accident (by a reckless driver who ran a red light), I went to stay at your house and you comforted me. I guess it was my turn to return the favor. You and I had been childhood friends and had known each other since practically the womb, but we weren’t particularly close by the time we went to college. We both pledged the same sorority, but we traveled in different circles. None of that mattered when I received the phone call that morning.I just knew that I had to be there.
I am honored to be your friend and so incredibly grateful that you are such a survivor! I am proud of you for writing this and pray that your story touches everyone who reads it.
Jordan, I’ve never quite heard how it came about that you were first on the scene so I appreciate your post. You were a life-saver and all that you did, from picking gravel out of Kats scalp, multiple hospital visits between classes, finding movies to bring to Kat and a dvd player, I think, etc… all was appreciated more than you know!
Kat and Jan,well you just never know when or where you will hear of you girls from the CA to Channel 3. Don & I had the TV on this morning and heard the Weather Guy thank Kat for sharing and for her Blog and of course I had to go check it out. I had no idea of the intensity of the accident. Now as I think back on your prayers of last year for our family, they were from your heart of having endured and conquered. We are so glad that our paths crossed at that Open House in Germantown. God can use those toughest times to make an impact on the lives of others. Thanks for sharing to both of you.
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Thank you for sharing this. I was recently introduced to Muddy’s by my sister who recently graduated from Rhodes. This is a fascinating story of which I cannot possibly imagine enduring.
As you said, call a friend or parent. I felt drank too much one time during pledging for a frat (didn’t make it, but that’s neither here nor there). Though I know I “could have” made it home, I know I wasn’t drunk, but it was raining and I didn’t want to risk it.
I called my parents thinking they’d be livid, but believe it or not, they weren’t. They came and got me, drove me home, and even said they were proud of me! They were never once mad, and I have an even greater respect for them.
Thanks again for sharing this!
(btw if you ever wanted to open a store in Little Rock I know you’d be more than welcomed here!)
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